Customer Reviews

SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Oh, wow. In terms of devices that make me happy, this ranks way up there.

I bought this CF reader to use with my Canon Elph S200 digital camera. Although the Elph comes with software and cables to download via the USB port of my computer, and this CF reader also connects to the USB port, for some reason downloading via the CF reader is far, far faster. You plug the CF reader in, it shows up in Windows as a new drive letter, and you can access the files on your CF card (open them, copy them, delete them, etc) the same way you'd access files anywhere else on your computer, and just about as quickly.

You can also use the reader to transfer data between computers, any kind of data. I have one networked computer (with no CD-R or zip drive) and one non-networked computer. With this tool I was suddenly able to transfer up to 256M of data (the size of my CF memory card) from the networked computer to the non-networked one, easy as pie. Hallelujah!

The reader is very simple to install. On some operating systems you just plug it in and it goes. On others (like Windows 98) you have to go to the SimpleTech website, download a driver (6.5M for Win98), install it and then plug it in. Either way it was very quick.

Overall a very satisfying little tool.

The reason for why I bought this item was that I did not want to connect my camera always whenever I wanted to transfer pictures from my digital camera to my computer. Why? Just a bit more flexible at the same time as I spare the batteries of my camera, and for this price, I think it is worth it.

There are a lot of CF-readers on the market but this one I feel comes with a good price. Paying more for a thing like this would be a waste of money. I feel that as long as the functionality is the same, there is no need for spending more cash. This CF-reader is also very flexible since it allows you to detach the cable from the reader. If you have "easy to reach" USB connections you can connect the reader directly which in combination with usage on Windows 2000/XP (requires no special drivers) makes it a very small and portable solution.

There is only one thing you should remember before buying this CF-reader if you are a user of older versions of Windows, e.g., Windows 95/98. Then you need to install some drivers before first usage on a computer. So, it is not possible to just connect it to any computer without first installing the drivers (for example connecting it to your friends computer to share pictures). This is however not a big problem but it removes some of the flexibility of being able to connect it anywhere.

An alternative for Laptop users with a free PC Card-slot can be a PC Card CF-reader. These also come with a good price (cheaper than a USB-reader) and usually (the ones I have used) do not require any special drivers.

Once you are ok with what I have mentioned above, I recommend this as a buy. I have used the CF-reader on several computers with no problem at all. Good value and easy to use.

Talk about convenient. This reader is very small, fits in your pocket and can even detatch from included cable, so you can plug it in to your USB hub or notebook like a key to transfer data to and from type I and II compactflash cards. Plus this reader is really fast and mass storage compliant, so no drivers needed if you have Windows 2000 or XP installed on your computer. If you have Win98, just load the included driver once and then you never need to load it again. This product is great and I recommend to anyone wanting to read and or write to compactflash cards.

At first I was kind of worried about compatibility. My homemade machine has a rather old motherboard (ABIT BH6) with only two USB ports. I had to buy a USB hub (Xircom 7-port) to accommodate all my USB devices: joystick, racing wheel, web cam, scanner, PDA, digicam, etc. Also, I'm running Windows 98 (not even SE). People have complained in the reviews for some other USB CF readers here at Amazon about trouble with hub and Win98. Although I do plan to upgrade my machine and also upgrade the OS to Windows 2000 in the summer, I certainly don't want to buy a reader that wouldn't work right away or even crashes my machine with buggy driver.

I'm happy to report that none of my worries happens. It works smooth with my hub and Windows 98 after a 1-minute driver installation. It's faster, though not overwhelmingly, than directly going through my Canon PowerShot S30, and much more convenient (which is the point). The USB connector on S30 just looks so fragile to me that I'm afraid it'll give up with constant plugging in and out. I have a Viking 128MB and a SimpleTech 256MB CF. Both posted about 1MByte/s when I did drag-n-drop copy using Explorer. Consider that USB max out at 1.5MB/s, that wasn't too bad. Canon's imaging program, Canon ZoomBrowser EX, recognizes the reader immediately and treats it just like the camera, i.e., it marks images already downloaded and shows the original exposure settings. Of course, with the reader I have the freedom to use Explorer or anything else for downloading and managing images, but I'll probably stick with ZoomBrowser.

The only glitch I encountered was with Norton Utilities 3.0. Norton Disk Doctor, a utility for checking and fixing your disks, crashes when the reader is plugged in. It's probably because Disk Doctor does not understand the new logical drive created for the reader. Just unplug it, and the new drive is gone and Disk Doctor runs as usual. NU 3.0 is rather old, too, and it wouldn't surprise me if Norton has fixed the problem.

I don't usually give products 5 stars, but this little guy exceeded my expectations. I run Windows XP Professional, and it took me far longer to get the package open than it did to install this thing and get it working! I plugged it in, and about 20 seconds later, I was downloading pictures from my digital camera. It reads quite fast, and can take high capacity type II flash cards - making this a good investment, as I believe that the majority of cameras/MP3 devices are going to begin to migrate to type compact flash type II storage, as it offers a lot more capacity and speed than SD or MMC storage types. It's working fine with my Viking 256 meg flash card.

Pros:
+ easy installation. It appears as another drive on your system, making it as simple as copying to and from a floppy.
+ good speed.
+ cool silver appearance - no ugly translucent junk.
+ ability to take type I and type II cards means that you most likely won't be left out in the cold with future upgrades to your flash memory using devices.

Cons:
- could be a little smaller, with perhaps a keychain loop. - Perhaps in the next revision .

I have owned three USB CompactFlash readers before, and this one has served me well. Its slim form factor and detachable USB cable make it easy to fit most anywhere; In my case, my camera bag.

I have used it flawlessly with Windows 2000, XP, and Macintosh OS X. I have but only two gripes with it:

First and foremost, its only USB1.1 compliant, rather than 2.0. The transfer speed is much higher with 2.0, and although your CompactFlash card cannot transfer at this maximum speed, there is a definite speed increase using a USB2.0 CompactFlash reader (for instance, the SanDisk SDDR-91 ImageMate, which is also nearly as small a form factor).

My second issue, is that the connection cable is a USB Type A Male to USB Type A Female (commonly known as a USB extension cable). While this makes it easy to plug the device directly to a laptop with USB ports open, spare cables are nearly all USB Type A to USB Type B (Male/Male). I find myself almost never using its "cableless" feature at any rate.

Overall, its a solid product that I've never had a (technical) problem with, and has always performed like a star. With the addition of USB2.0 and a slightly less wide shape, it would take this product in a class unto its own.

I didn't buy this flash card reader. I bought similar one, which for some reason Amazon.com decided to replace with the model imaged above. The version I got had a detachable cord that was really just a USB extension. The card reder itsefl could be plugged straight into a USB port without the cable.

Anyway, I made my purchase of a Simpletech Flashlink UCF-100 Flashc ard reader because I wanted to be able to take pictures off of my Canon A40 using school computers (Macs) which I cannot install software on. I do a lot of web design and print design work and have my camera with me all the time ot snap pictures of object I may want to use later. This flash card reader was perfect for what I needed. It required no drivers so I can go from PC (home) to Mac (school) with no problems. I can take pictures off of my camera without draining the camera batteries (just gotta pop out the flash card) which is a big plus since the camera practically eats batteries. Also with the Vikin 128MB Flash card I can transfer files to and from school easily without the problems sometimes associated with Zip100 disks.

Best of all the flash card reader is small, measuring about 2" by 1.5" so it easily fits in the front pocket of my camera case. It is also very light weight, and I mean light, it can't weigh more than a handful of styrofoam packing peanuts.

It feels a little 'cheap' when you first pick it up, but it is solidly made and has been bounced around my school bag for the last few months and is none the worst for wear.

Great product.

Simple and easy to use, I wish I had bought one sooner. Save the batteries in your camera and use this gadget. Just plug the Compact Flash Card into the Reader and then plug the Reader into the USB port on your PC. With XP that's ALL I need to do, when finished downloading the pictures just pull out the Reader and remove the Compact Flash Card. It's foolproof!!!
I highly recommend this product, I think it's GREAT.

I have a PowerShot digital camera A300 from Canon. In order to download the pictures from the camera, I need to install 2 separate softwares, BUT, they do not work quite well. With this SimpleTech FlashLink CF Reader, I only need to connect it to the USB port and voila`, I can drag and drop pictures like an elementary schooler playing on the computer. I have Window 2000 OP.

As a user of Mac OSX I was looking for an easy-to-use mass storage compliant card reader so I wouldn't have to hastle with downloading drivers to support Mac OSX.

This unit does the trick. You just plug it into your USB hub and it transfers your photos easily and quickly no software downloads or fuss. It's small, simple and easy to use.